Medieval stories have long been a favorite of mine, yet they seem to have fallen out of favor with publishers. And the few recently published ones I have read I considered lackluster at best. To my most pleasant surprise, Lindsay Townsend’s latest did not fall into this category. When Edith’s overlord Giles feared the pestilence,…
Seduced by Her Highland Warrior is a book I liked but didn’t love. It’s somewhat unique in that the couple has already been married for several years at the start of the book. And that’s several years where they have been together, not several years during which one or the other ran off because of…
How accurate do you want your historical romances? That’s a question that I grapple with every once in a while as I’m reading. When a story is too overly modern—with Medieval heroines spouting feminist beliefs from the latter half of the twentieth century—and getting away with these diatribes in a time when women were publicly…
Don’t you love finding a new author to glom? I haven’t read Kris Kennedy’s first two books, but now that I’ve read her latest, I’m definitely going to shop for her backlist. I stopped seeking out Medieval romances a while back because the plots all seemed so hackneyed. Not so with Ms Kennedy’s medieval. You…
Imagine you’re watching the History Channel. They’ve got a lovely six-part miniseries about 12th century Northumbria just before the Battle of the Standard, and you decide, “Hey! I don’t know anything about that historical period, let’s check it out!” You’re enjoying the diverse cast of historical figures, and love the in-depth look into Scottish and…
“The monkey ruined the feast.” When I read the unusual first line of Heather Grothaus’ latest medieval romance, Never Kiss a Stranger, I was engaged. I had, as the song goes, high hopes which, sadly, were dashed by the rest of the tale. This book has an insufferable teenage heroine, an overly virtuous hero, and…
What a lovely book to break me out of my reading slump. Juliet Marillier’s single-title offering is a Medieval Irish Beauty and the Beast fantasy, with a small dash of history, a medium dose of romance, and a whole heap of bloody good storytelling. Caitrin is an unusual and beautiful young woman. She can read…
When it comes to stereotypical romance heroes, brawny Scotsmen are right up there with Regency rakes and billionaire bachelor tycoons. Many a romance heroine has lost her heart to a man in a kilt. Lady Catriona Mackintosh, heroine of Amanda Scott’s latest Scottish romance, is about to lose hers to Finlagh Cameron, known to his…
When it comes to historical romance, I usually stick to the Regency period. However, after reading Julia Latham’s Sin and Surrender, I feel inspired to delve into the world of medieval romance! The story was great, and Latham really managed to write some interesting personalities. The hero and heroine and the supporting characters are the…
His Conquest is an ambitious novel. The setup is rife for conflict, both internal and external. Unfortunately while the premise is good and the prose is not terrible, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The year is 1297 and Seathan MacGruder has been imprisoned and tortured by Linet Dancourt’s brother and is due…